State demographers and the federal Census Bureau, who once had widely disparate views about California's population growth, appear to be in synch so far in this decade.
A couple of weeks ago, the state Department of Finance calculated that California's population reached 38.2 million on June 30, a gain of 332,000 residents. On Monday, the Census Bureau agreed that California had gained just over 332,000 during that same period, but pegged the total at a slightly higher 38.3 million.
Beginning with the 2000 census, the state calculated that California's population growth was much higher than what the Census Bureau figured and by the end of the decade, the difference between two was a million persons. The gap largely stemmed from differing views of how many people had migrated from California to other states.
The 2010 census settled the disagreement in the Census Bureau's favor and since then the state and federal estimates have been in tandem.
The Census bureau says that the nation's population rose by 2.25 million during the 20012-13 period, or 0.07 percent. California's population growth was slightly higher at 0.09 percent. The new California total, 38.3 million, is just over a million higher than the 2010 census found.
PHOTO: Melvin Griffin, 75, center, was hoping to find a job that would give him more hours then his part-time job at the Census Bureau. Sacramento's 16th Annual Career Expo at the Masonic Temple building, was Dec. 11, 2012 in Sacramento, Calif. The Sacramento Bee/Renee C. Byer